ARTICLES ABOUT CHEESEBURGER BY DATE - PAGE 2

There are easier ways to celebrate high school graduation than to run for your baseball team's life. For verification, check with Matt McAllister . . . who perhaps by now has even stopped panting. What a day to remember for McAllister, a 6-foot, 175-pound pitcher-third baseman, and the other baseball playing members of Archbishop Wood High's senior class. From graduation at 11 a.m., in Villanova's Pavilion, to a 10-6, come-from-way-behind win over West York in a PIAA Class AAA first-round playoff at La Salle High's Ward Field (4 p.m. start)

Andy Burgers are always on the menu Saturday night. Asked to recall a memorable speech by his head coach during his six seasons with the Eagles, cornerback Lito Sheppard could come up with only one thing. "I'll treat you to some cheeseburgers," he said, laughing about Andy Reid's signature Saturday night ritual. "He says that every week. It's the snack after the meeting. There are other things you can eat, but the cheeseburgers are always on the menu. " Reid's cheeseburger promise has been consistent since he became the head coach in 1999, with one exception.

This is a cheesesteak town, as we all know. And the city will always have that steak as its signature griddle move, its crossover dribble, its split-fingered strikeout pitch. But if you take a closer look at what menus are really pushing in town, from the high-end bistros down to the newest chains, you'll find more kitchen energy is devoted to reinventing the cheeseburger than anything else. As I tasted more and more evidence of this phenomenon, I knew I could no longer avoid the project I had put off for more than a decade: The Great Burger Quest.

This is a cheesesteak town, as we all know. And the city will always have that steak as its signature griddle move, its crossover dribble, its split-fingered strikeout pitch. But if you take a closer look at what menus are really pushing in town, from the high-end bistros down to the newest chains, you'll find more kitchen energy is devoted to reinventing the cheeseburger than anything else. As I tasted more and more evidence of this phenomenon, I knew I could no longer avoid the project I had put off for more than a decade: The Great Burger Quest.

Armed with only a positive attitude, a lanky blond co-ed from the College of New Jersey has succeeded where bigger men have failed. Much bigger. Indeed, Kate Stelnick, a 5-foot, 7-inch 19-year-old who hails from Princeton, weighs barely 115 pounds versus her chief competitor, who rolls in at 420. Yet she is apparently the only American - indeed, the only person on Earth - to eat a six-pound hamburger with five pounds of fixings in under three hours. Truly well done.

Remember the guy who sued fast-food restaurants for making him fat? He became a poster boy for frivolous litigation. But that hasn't stopped the trial lawyers who see dollar signs where most of us see dinner. Thankfully, the U.S. House of Representatives recently passed a "cheeseburger bill" to curtail an expected onslaught of litigation in this obesity blame-game. President Bush says he would sign the cheeseburger bill, but its fate in the Senate appears uncertain. Senators with close ties to trial lawyers, like former presidential candidate John Edwards (D., N.C.)

The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed a bill to ban so-called "frivolous" obesity lawsuits. But it's the bill - not the lawsuits - which is frivolous. If, as claimed, the basis of the bill is that all obesity lawsuits are inherently frivolous, then the bill is unnecessary because judges routinely toss out, and juries usually reject, truly frivolous lawsuits, and appellate court judges can easily reverse the few that survive. These suits - which seek to hold manufacturers liable despite the argument of personal responsibility - are no more frivolous than tobacco or other product liability lawsuits, especially in view of a recent poll showing that prospective jurors are almost as likely to vote for a fat plaintiff in a lawsuit against a fast-food company as for a smoking plaintiff in a suit against a tobacco company.

A man was arrested Monday in Camden and charged with stealing the coat off a man's back and a bag of cheeseburgers from another man. James Hunter, 19, whose address was unknown, was charged with robbery. He did not post $15,000 bail and was being held in the Camden County Correctional Facility. Joseph Leach, 19, of Camden, told police that he was walking in the area of Ninth and Morton Streets shortly before 1 a.m. Monday when a man bumped into him, told him he had a gun, and stole Leach's black jacket and $6. Leach went to his nearby home, then went back out to look for his stolen coat.

Ask Oliver Quiah to name his favorite American food, and his bright eyes flash and he laughs and looks at his friend Sayce Falk and says, "Cheesebur. . .. gers!" Then ask him what he ate back in Liberia, his native country, and the light goes from his eyes, his jaw tightens, he grimaces and says, "Ah, rice, just rice. " Quiah is the leading scorer on what is a virtual United Nations soccer team at Upper Darby this fall. He has scored 22 goals. None of them are actually his real goal though.

Turns out that the height of pop music success isn't the power to make young girls scream or to sell 18 million CDs. "The best reason to go into the business is for the free food," said Justin Timberlake (curly blond hair), the most screamed-at member of pop phenom 'N Sync. "This is something you dream of as a kid - being with McDonald's," said JC Chasez (spiky brown hair). "Our pictures are on the cups and the fry box," exclaimed an incredulous Joey Fatone (spiky brown hair, red highlights, goatee)